Yearly, November 16 - 22

2nd Stage Workshop for Healing

November Pilgrimage

Similar to the June workshop, this pilgrimage starts with an informal meeting in Sedona between the participants and Jaichima and Rutury. After spending some time catching up or getting to know each other, the group goes to a place that Jaichima and Rutury call the gate or the door, near Sedona's Bell Rock formation. There is a ceremonial request of permission to enter into the pilgrimage. Jaichima and Rutury ask permission from the night, the stars, the wind, the land and all the things that exist. They ask the natural forces to be with the group during the pilgrimage.

The November Pilgrimage is more profound on many levels. Participants are asked to give voice to negative feelings, memories, and experiences they may have been carrying for some time. Whatever these burdens, they are symbolically shed in a ceremonial fire as participants are given individual time to physically release these burdens as their instincts dictate. Participants may yell, weep, or otherwise express themselves. By the same token, they may find that quiet stillness is what feels right to them during this ceremony.

On the following morning, the group takes an easy hike to the largest arch in the Sedona red rocks. Local indigenous people describe it as a place that makes it easier to rid oneself of troubles by shouting out what has been pent up inside.

On the last day of the pilgrimage, the group paint designs on their faces in a way inspired by traditional Wixarika practices. There is a more strenuous hike to a sacred place where Jaichima and Rutury's father, Haka'ula, and Jaichima did a profoundly important ceremony many years ago.

It must be stressed that Doña Jaichima and Don Rutury neither use nor need any mind-altering substances in their healing work with you, and that the use of these are strictly prohibited.